The present invention relates generally to selective visual display systems and particularly to an instruction presentation apparatus adapted to interactively present correlated textual and graphical instructional information to a user of a machine.
The cost of down time for the complex machines used in many types of industrial manufacturing and other industrial processes is extremely expensive. For example, down time on Automobile Industry paint lines and Stamping Lines cost $2,000 to $5,000 per minute.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that most plants in the auto industry are operating at capacity. Plants running at capacity have no xe2x80x9cexcess capacityxe2x80x9d available to catch-up or make-up for production lost due to down time. Any part that is not produced, or sale that is lost, is a part or sale that can not be recovered because there is no excess capacity available to recover it. Modern manufacturing concepts like xe2x80x9cJust-in-Timexe2x80x9d inventories mean that there are very few reserve parts in stock. If production is lost for more than 30 to 60 minutes there is a measurable adverse effect on downstream production operations. Modern manufacturing machines are themselves becoming increasingly complex. Global competition is forcing quality to improve. This causes machining tolerances to be significantly tighter and hard to achieve. New machines have been designed to meet these challenges, but they are significantly more complex than prior machines. If these machines are inoperative for even a short amount of time, large and irrecoverable losses will be realized. Therefore, even seemingly modest improvements in down time can be very important. Just as importantly, making repair procedures even slightly easier to comprehend can make the difference between factory workers fixing a problem quickly instead of experiencing lengthy down time.
For as long as modern factories have been in existence, factory workers have attempted to fix machine problems with the aid of paper-based instruction manuals. Unfortunately, traditional paper-based instruction manuals exhibit severe limitations. These problems have become more severe as machinery has grown more complex.
The biggest problem with traditional paper-based instruction manuals is that they present information passively. In other words, all of the information is there in front of a worker all of the time. Workers themselves are 100% responsible for keeping track of where they are in a procedure. This presents a problem in long complex procedures, because it makes it easy for a worker to inadvertently skip over a step without realizing it.
Workers could learn and memorize repair procedures on the older machines because they only had 30 to 50 procedures for fixing problems. Modern computer controlled machines routinely have 500 to 2000 fault codes. Each fault code has its own 30 to 100 step procedure that must be precisely followed to repair the machine. This is too much for an average factory worker to memorize.
Workers can easily skip over steps without realizing it because they are unfamiliar with the procedure. If they were familiar with the procedure they would not be referencing it in a technical instruction. Therefore it is safe to say that workers that need to refer to a procedure in a technical instruction are unfamiliar with that procedure. It follows that these workers would not realize that they skipped a step until they tried to power up their machine and it failed to power up.
Another serious limitation of traditional paper-based instruction manuals is that graphics are frequently on a different page than the textual step. This forces a worker to flip pages to see the graphic. Flipping pages makes it more likely that a worker will skip steps as they work their way through a long procedure. If constant page flipping annoys the worker too much they may not even reference the graphic and it""s xe2x80x9cexplanation valuexe2x80x9d will be lost.
The same type of problems experienced with use of traditional paper-based instruction manuals are also experienced with use of presently available electronic computer-based instruction manuals. The biggest problem with presently available computer-based instruction manuals is that users have to xe2x80x9cclickxe2x80x9d back and forth between text screens and graphic screens. Clicking back-and-forth over and over is confusing for most factory workers. It makes following a complex procedure difficult.
Some computer-based instruction manuals and internet web pages have tried to solve this problem by allowing the worker to xe2x80x9cscrollxe2x80x9d down through a procedure. While this is better than clicking back-and-forth it still makes the factory worker perform three actions; 1) Keep track of where they are in the procedure all by themselves, 2) Click to scroll, and 3) Click for a graphic. This approach does nothing to reduce the risk of a worker skipping over a step in a procedure and not realizing it because it is not conceptually different than the approach used for traditional paper-based instruction manuals. It is still the traditional xe2x80x9cpaper approachxe2x80x9d even though it is accessed by, and displayed on, a computer display screen.
Any time a worker has to scroll between steps in a procedure in a computer based instruction manual the worker runs a big risk of skipping a step when he looks away to perform a task, and then looks back at the computer screen. Additionally, any time a worker has to click to see a graphic he also runs the risk of getting lost or not using the graphic.
There is a need for new methods and apparatuses for aiding users in the operation, assembly and repair of complex machines.
According to its major aspects and broadly stated, the present invention is an instruction presentation apparatus adapted to display correlated/textual and graphical information to a user of a machine according to a predetermined sequence.
The instruction presentation apparatus is adapted to display to a user, in accordance with a predetermined ordering, a plurality of preconfigured instruction screen displays. Each instruction screen display of the apparatus includes both textual and complementary graphical information pertaining to a particular instruction of a process related to a machine. Typically, the textual information of each instruction screen display describes the work to be performed on a machine during execution of the instruction, while correlated graphical information of each instruction screen display, in one embodiment, graphically illustrates the machine that is worked on combined with highlight indicia highlighting the particular area of the machine that is worked on during execution of the instruction described in the text section of the instruction screen display. An apparatus according to the invention displays one instruction screen display at a time and does not display an instruction screen display pertaining to a next instruction until the apparatus receives a user-initiated command to display the next instruction screen display.
By withholding display of text and graphics pertaining to an instruction until receipt of a user initiated command, and by simultaneously presenting textual information and graphical information particularly associated with that textual information for each instruction that is to be executed, the apparatus significantly enhances a user""s ability to comprehend each instruction and to maintain attention on the instruction presently being executed.
The highlight indicia which highlights the area of a machine to be acted on during execution of an instruction may take on a variety of forms. For example, an instruction screen display""s highlight indicia may comprise an arrow or border indicating the area of the machine to be worked on. If the instruction involves use of a specific tool type on a certain area of the machine, then the highlight indicia may comprise a graphic illustration of the tool as applied to a certain area of the machine. If the instruction involves assembly of a machine, then graphical information of the instruction screen display may include assembly state indicia which illustrates a machine in an assembled state after execution of the present or previous instruction. If an instruction involves disassembly of a machine, then text information of the instruction screen display may include assembly state indicia which illustrates a machine in a disassembled state after execution of the instruction These and other details, advantages and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment hereinbelow.
FIG. 1A is a physical schematic diagram of the apparatus as implemented in a conventional personal computer;
FIG. 1B is a block electrical diagram of the invention;
FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate instruction screen displays of a first exemplary embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate instruction screen displays of an embodiment of the invention in which the graphical information of the instruction screen display pertains to a control panel.
FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate instruction screen displays of an embodiment of the invention in which the graphical information of the instruction screen displays includes motion indicia indicating motion of a machine;
FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate instruction screen displays of an embodiment of the invention in which graphical information of a next instruction screen display illustrates a wholly different graphical image than a previous instruction screen display;
FIGS. 6A-6D illustrate instruction screen displays of an embodiment of the invention in which graphical information of the instruction screen display include assembly state indicia;
FIGS. 7A-7C illustrate instruction screen displays of an embodiment of the invention in which the invention is implemented in a two window format.